Scared Stiff (A Mattie Winston Mystery, #2)

by Annelise Ryan

[Mystereity Reviews]

Heh. Poor Mattie doesn't have an easy time of it, does she?

During a blind date with the OCD William-not-Bill, Mattie is called out on a dead body call. Shannon Tolliver was found dead in her front yard, amongst the Halloween decorations. When Shannon's estranged husband Erik is arrested, Mattie knows he's not the killer, so the real question is: who killed Shannon and why?

This was a great followup to the first book; thoroughly entertaining and completely engrossing, it was full of hilarious cringe moments (I laughed out loud through the whole scene when they were recovering the rich couple!) lots of intrigue and one creepy suspect (am I the only one who thought he was creepy at the get-go?) The main plot, Shannon's murder, leads Mattie far and wide in her search for suspects, uncovering quite a few and introducing a few new characters I hope to see more of (the gay bar scene? Loved it!)

Just one thing, I've got a Dropped Thread Alert! What about the gun? Erik told Mattie that he gave his gun to Shannon, who stored it in the guest bedroom. When Mattie and Hurley went to Shannon's house to see if it was there, Mattie got busy looking at her medicine cabinet, her hormones flared and she got horny with Hurley and she never checked to see if the gun was still there and it was never mentioned again. Arrgh!

Overall, an excellent second in this series and it made me excited to read more.